Man receives 60-year sentence for 2020 murder

Jun 23, 2022 4:00 pm
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An Alachua County judge sentenced Arealeus K. Morris to 60 years in prison as a reoffender after a jury found him guilty of a Gainesville man’s death in 2020. 

Arealeus K. Morris

On May 25, 2020, Morris, 41, beat and robbed John Katon, 66, in the Pine Ridge Neighborhood in northwest Gainesville. Morris had been released from prison after 15 years in April 2020, less than two months before the assault. 

The Gainesville Police Department (GPD) found Katon around 11:17 p.m., according to a press release from the event. Neighbors came forward and pointed GPD in the direction of Morris. The next morning, officers took him into custody. 

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Morris later admitted to the confrontations and trying to take drugs from the man while unconscious. 

After a three-day trial, the jury found Morris guilty of manslaughter, robbery with a firearm and aggravated battery on a person over 65. 

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  • C.J. Gish

    C.J. Gish is the senior editor for Mainstreet Daily News. He is a Pacific Northwest transplant who grew up in Oregon and moved to Florida in 2018. C.J. has spent more than 30 years in media, public relations and marketing, including stints as a newspaper reporter, working at two TV stations (FOX and ABC) in Boise, and as a media specialist for Eastern Oregon University. C.J. enjoys sports, especially the NFL and NBA, and is the father to three amazing adult children. Send story ideas to editor@mainstreetdailynews.com

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M Willis

This is very sad. I do not think we should imprison everyone for life.. 1) Because it could be unjust to those who have the potential to change their ways (2) It’s very expensive for the taxpayers. So, what programs do we have in prison? Putting more money on work programs.. therapy.. education? When released, do we make sure they have a way to find productive and legal means to live? Do we make sure our prison is free of drugs? Why not drug test people before release? And do random drug testing like we do in the military? And we find the source of the drugs that keeps the prisoners’ minds imprisoned. Maybe they need to clean house..

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Sr Thompson

I did time in prison with a guy that spent most of his adult life behind bars the prison we was in didn’t have program’s to better yourself I worked in the chapel there’s no pay just peaceful he would visit the chapel sometime but the prison guards was soft on him and he could move throughout the prison with freedom I believe he was institutionalized he could do things normal inmates couldn’t do we talked a lot because we was in open bay like a boot camp set up 60 beds for inmates in columns of 6 he said something to me and I was like to myself I knew that if he got out and did a crime the end result would be murder and I’m reading this article that reminds me

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